A new frontier: mini fusion reactors to create radioactive isotopes for medical purposes
A UK-based startup has unveiled innovative technology that can transform the landscape of cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Astral Systems, a company founded by the University of Bristol, has demonstrated the use of a first-of-its-kind multistate fusion reactor (MSF) that can reduce the use of medical radioactive isotopes essential for radiotherapy or diagnostic imaging.
Radioactive isotopes are artificially created radioactive elements which, through the radiation emitted, are capable of killing tumor cells during radiotherapy.
The multilayer fusion reactor uses a high-pressure plasma, which is located in the external area of the reactor, to produce a form of fusion that essentially emits beta radiation which is therefore useful in producing the radioactive isotopes without requiring the construction of a large reactor to fission, with the resulting problems.
MSF reactor model
“Nuclear medicine has helped save lives for decades by enabling the medical profession to scan for cancer and directly treat tumors and cancer cells at the source,” said Talmon Firestone, co-founder and CEO of Astral Systems and visiting fellow at the University of Bristol.
Additionally, they can serve as “radioactive tracers” within the body to facilitate the detection of medical conditions through diagnostic imaging.
These isotopes produce radiation that can be detected and quantified, providing significant information to healthcare professionals about the structure and function of organs and tissues within the body.
Limited number of reactors to produce these isotopes.
Much of the global supply of medical isotopes relies on a limited number of fission reactors.
The relevance of this discovery stems from the looming shortage of medical isotopes, with a UK government assessment stating that the majority of the global supply depends on a handful of aging fission reactors, most of which are set to close by 2030.
This raises concerns about the future availability of these critical medical resources. The new MSF reactor offers a compact solution to this challenge.
The company plans to build small fusion reactors, which could be strategically installed in regional isotope facilities not only in the UK, but also around the world.
This decentralized strategy promises to deliver radioactive samples more flexibly and cost-effectively.
The developers
Small reactors for big problems
By creating these smaller-scale reactors, the company seeks to mitigate the risks associated with relying on a few large reactors. This will ensure continuous and reliable production of medical isotopes.
“Our systems have been developed much more quickly and can produce isotopes on a much smaller scale than alternative technologies. This means that medical isotopes can be produced near or in hospital centers, without having to resort to giant international nuclear fission plants,” Firestone said.
Firestone then added: "This will dramatically increase the diagnostic and therapeutic techniques available to doctors, reducing waiting times and hospital costs and improving the quality of care."
In 2021, the University of Bristol, in collaboration with Astral Systems and the Science and Technology Council (STFC), was awarded a £1 million research grant to optimize and commercialize MSF reactor technology within of the project called MicroNOVA.
“Our MSF reactor not only provides a mechanism to develop medical radioisotopes safely and more efficiently, but also offers an ideal test bed to understand what a full-scale fusion power plant will look like and how it might behave during operation,” he said. concluded Tom Wallace-Smith, co-founder of this company.
If all goes as planned, this technology could usher in a new era in cancer treatment and medical isotope production.
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The article A new frontier: mini fusion reactors to create radioactive isotopes for medical purposes comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/una-nuova-frontiera-mini-reattori-a-fusione-per-realizzare-isotopi-radioattivi-a-scopo-medico/ on Wed, 29 Nov 2023 06:15:24 +0000.